Robert L. Millet [Millet - Men of Valor: The Powerful Impact of a Righteous Man

Foreword

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and soul and mind and strength
To serve the King of Kings.

Rise up, O men of God,
In one united throng.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!

(Hymns, no. 324)

Introduction

At a time in the history of ancient Israel, perhaps a time not too different from our own, the children of Israel found themselves in bondage to the Midianites, a neighboring nation whose influence was anything but good. Because God Almighty loves his covenant people and because he keeps his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, once again he sought to deliver the Israelites out of the prevailing darkness of the day into his marvelous light. Jehovah then did what he so often does to awaken and retrieve his wandering sons and daughters: he called upon a mana common man, a good manand then empowered and qualified and prepared that good man for greatness. An angel appeared to one Gideon "and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour" (Judges 6:712; emphasis added). Gideon was then taught and shaped and readied to save his people and return them to the worship of Jehovah. With three hundred fighting men, Gideon and his small band leaned and relied wholly upon the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of Armies, and defeated one hundred and twenty thousand of their enemies (see Judges 8:10). Yes, Gideon was a "mighty man of valor." Valor represents bravery and strength of character, boldness, and fortitudeall qualities that prepare a person to act responsibly in times of need, of challenge, or of danger.

A colleague of mine spent several days in a large metropolitan city, one that has a reputation for its blatant wickedness and especially its immorality. He returned home from his research trip exhausted, worn down, both emotionally and spiritually. He described painfully what he saw and especially what he felt, how the power of sin was so thick in the air one could almost slice it with a knife. "I couldn't finish up and get home fast enough," he said, in essence. "I wanted to hug my wife and children, go to Church, take the sacrament, hear the gospel preached. Most important," he added with an almost frightened look in his eye, "I wanted to pray. I wanted to plead for strength to resist, to importune the Lord for courage on the part of my children and grandchildren to stand boldly against the rising tide of evil in our time."

Truly, as the revelations attest, "the enemy is combined" (D&C 38:12), and modern Israel's righteous force will be successful in deflecting the fiery darts of the adversary only to the extent that the men of God take their rightful place as "mighty men of valor."

The priesthood is the power and authority of God, delegated to men on earth, to act in all things pertaining to the salvation of the human family. It is God's power, loaned for a season to you and me, to make a difference in a world that desperately needs it. It is the Almighty's authorization, a divine investiture of authority, to bless people and preserve goodness and decency in our society. And it is the same power held by Him after whom the priesthood is named (D&C 107:3). As Elder Bruce R. McConkie reminded us: "We can stand in the place and stead of the Lord Jesus Christ in administering salvation to the children of men. He preached the gospel; so can we. He spoke by the power of the Holy Ghost; so can we. He served as a missionary; so can we. He went about doing good; so can we. He performed the ordinances of salvation; so can we. He kept the commandments; so can we. He wrought miracles; such also is our privilege if we are true and faithful in all things. We are his agents; we represent him; we are expected to do and say what he would do and say if he personally were ministering among men at this time" (Conference Report, October 1977, 50).

If ever there was a time, if ever there was a season, if ever there was a cause that cried out for men of purpose and men of purity to step forward and draw upon the powers of heaven, it is today. It's true that priesthood is neither male nor female, neither man nor woman. Priesthood is an authority, a divine power, a force for good in the earth and in heaven. With but two exceptionsbeing ordained to offices within the priesthood and performing priesthood ordinancesthe women of the Church are entitled to every blessing of the priesthood that men are. Our Holy Father is no respecter of persons, and he certainly loves his daughters as much as he loves his sons. But the God of us all expects those who have been ordained to stand in the office to which they have been called; to take up their cross dailyto deny themselves of ungodliness and every worldly lust (see JST Matthew 16:24; compare Moroni 10:32); to occupy their minds with uplifting thoughts, to ponder upon that which is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and worthy of praise (see Philippians 4:8); to avoid places and influences and even people that would degrade or dilute the power of the priesthood; to rise up and reach out to make a difference; and to allow the holy priesthood to be felt and enjoyed by every member of the family, thereby creating within the home a bit of heaven on earth.

President Boyd K. Packer, in addressing the J. Reuben Clark Law Society at Brigham Young University, charged the assembled group: "You who hold the priesthood must be exemplars above reproach. And I charge each of you... and put you on alert: These are days of great spiritual danger for this people. The world is spiraling downward at an ever-quickening pace. I am sorry to tell you that it will not get better.I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds the wickedness and depravity which surrounds us now" ("On the Shoulders of Giants," 7; emphasis added).

President Gordon B. Hinckley likewise stated: "No one need tell you that we are living in a very difficult season in the history of the world. Standards are dropping everywhere. Nothing seems to be sacred any more.... The traditional family is under heavy attack. I do not know that things were worse in the times of Sodom and Gomorrah. At that season, Abraham bargained with the Lord to save these cities for the sake of the righteous. Notwithstanding his pleas, things were so bad that Jehovah decreed their destruction. They and their wicked inhabitants were annihilated. We see similar conditions today. They prevail across the world. Our Father must weep as He looks down upon His wayward sons and daughters. In the Church we are working very hard to stem the tide of evil. But it is an uphill battle" (Worldwide Leadership Training Broadcast, 10 January 2004, 20; emphasis added).

This short book is about the priesthood and about the men who are called to hold it. It is intended to awaken us, to nudge our consciences, to educate our desires, to call us to higher ground, and to provoke us to glimpse and grasp the power with which we have been endowed. It is intended to raise a warning voice and also to sound the battle cry. We must not be nave: we are at war, and Satan and his minions will do all they can to weaken, distract, confuse, or pollute the agents of the Lord. This must not happen. There is too much at stake, too many souls to save, too much truth to spread, too much evil to conquer. The "mighty men of valor" prepared and raised up to engage the enemy of our souls must stand and deliver. Jesus Christ is the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, and the Captain of our salvation. He will not desert us in a time of growing darkness. If we will let him, he will shine his kindly and Kingly light upon us and through us. The time to step forward and be counted is now. Borrowing the words of a letter written by Joseph Smith to the Saints in Nauvoo, "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!" (D&C 128:22).